Afghans awaiting US resettlement say they’re being deported from Pakistan back to the Taliban

NICK PATON WALSH AND MASOUD POPALZAI
CNN

Afghans who were promised a home in the United States after their country fell to the Taliban say they have waited so long for the US to process their applications that they are now being sent back to the enemy they fled.

A number of Afghans who worked with the US and were told they were eligible for resettlement there have been forcibly deported back to Afghanistan from Pakistan, where they fled to await processing following the Taliban takeover in 2021, CNN can reveal.

One man waiting for a US visa described being dropped at the Afghan border by Pakistani police this summer. “They did not hand us over to the (Taliban) Afghan border forces,” he said. “They just released us on the border and told us to go back to Afghanistan. It was me, my four kids and my wife deported together.” He is now living in hiding in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

Another deported Afghan, also speaking from hiding in Kabul, said: “So this is very, very dangerous, and it is very tough… How many people have been killed, had been tortured, have been disappeared?” The man, a former employee of a US contractor, said the Taliban “will punish me, they will put me in jail. Maybe they will kill me? I’m sure they will.” He added: “Still, we believe that the USA will help us. We believe we didn’t lose our hope still.”

Both individuals spoke to CNN anonymously for their safety, and provided documentation showing a US visa case number being processed, and evidence of their presence in Pakistan.

Many Afghans fled the Taliban after the August 15, 2021 fall of Kabul to the hard-line group. More than 124,000 Afghans were airlifted out of the country in a huge US-led operation.

Yet, thousands also fled across the border to Pakistan, often with incomplete paperwork, following US guidance that they should wait in a third country for their visa applications to the US to be processed.

Nearly 90,000 Afghans have since been resettled in the US, according to State Department figures, but many others have been caught in the backlog of so-called Afghan Priority 2 (P-2) or Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) applications waiting to be processed.

Human rights groups say the most acute situation is faced by those in Pakistan, from where hundreds of Afghans have been deported in a crackdown against migrants following recent political instability.

At least two Afghans awaiting P-2 visas have been swept up in this crackdown, CNN has learned, and complain of Pakistani police persecution. Several others still residing in Pakistan told CNN about what they said was harassment by Pakistani police and the threat of deportation if they did not pay fines or bribes.

Pakistan’s Foreign and Interior Ministries have not responded to CNN’s request for comment on the claims.

At least 530 Afghans have been deported from Pakistan so far this year, according to Haseeb Aafaq, a spokesman for volunteer group the Afghanistan Immigrants Refugees Council. Aafaq said the figure came from his studies of local records but added it might be a low estimate as many Afghans were deported without documentation.

Aafaq added that the Pakistani authorities made no exceptions for pending US visa cases. “There is no differentiation. The authorities here do not even think about where you are from. If you are Afghan, you must be deported if your visa is not valid, whether you are SIV or P-2 or sponsorship cases.” He said many of those deported are P-2 cases, but he could not provide a precise number as many Afghans keep their P-2 status confidential out of fear for their safety.

Two young Afghan men have taken their own lives in Islamabad since June, both awaiting US P-2 visas, according to activists. Aafaq said one of them, aged 25, who died last week, had suffered “mental pressure and economic pressure and an unclear future.”

Aafaq said the US failure to open a Resettlement Support Center (RSC) in Pakistan meant the processing of cases there had partially stalled. “The RSC has not been activated yet, while in other countries, like Turkey or Tajikistan, people have gone to the US,” he said.

Afghans waiting in Pakistan have reported harassment by Pakistani police, including arrest and demands for money. One, who worked with the US military and asked not to be named for his safety, told CNN: “They were asking for a visa. There were a lot of policemen, they came into the house without clear information. And they took me out of (my) home and they just put (me) in the van. My kids, they were very much harassed. They were crying, they were asking for help.”

He also described how he once saved his American colleagues during a protest, and had commendation letters denoting his service. “I’m disappointed because (of) the way that I served the Americans in Afghanistan. I was expecting them to welcome me there sooner. It seems like I have no future at all.”

The US State Department told CNN in a statement that the Biden administration “continues to demonstrate its commitment to the brave Afghans” who worked with the US. It added that its “processing capacity in Pakistan remains limited, but (staff) are actively working to expand it.” The statement urged “Afghanistan’s neighbors” to “keep their borders open” and “uphold their obligations” when it comes to asylum seekers. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment.

Another Afghan, whom CNN is not naming for his safety, served the US in Afghanistan and is now in Pakistan with his wife and children. He described their wait for US help as a “bad dream.” His wife sobbed: “Going back to Afghanistan is a big risk and here we are dying, every moment. Staying in Pakistan is a gradual death.”

Afghans awaiting US resettlement say they’re being deported from Pakistan back to the Taliban
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US Envoys for Afghanistan Meet with Central Asian Nations’ Representatives

Inclusive governance and women’s rights were discussed by the participants of the meeting.

Two days before the Doha meeting, US special envoy Thomas West and US special envoy for Afghan women, girls and human rights, Rina Amiri, in Astana met with the representatives of five Central Asian countries — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan — and discussed Afghanistan.

Inclusive governance and women’s rights were discussed by the participants of the meeting.

“Many agreed that inclusive governance & women’s rights are integral to economic stability, security & peace. Counterparts underscored that women’s rights are integral in Islam & critical to development, as in their countries,” said Amiri.

“For two years, Afghan women have been far away from the public affairs of the society, and even if they made personal efforts to provide for their lives, they were not allowed. Afghan women are a part of Afghan society. The government has the responsibility to provide ways for their participation in public issues, in education and work, and their presence in the society,” said Surya Paykan, women’s rights activist.

Some political analysts believe that holding such meetings can be effective in solving the country’s problems.

“Such meetings have existed in the past two years and will continue again, but the contact of Mr. West and senior officials of the United States never mean recognizing the Islamic Emirate,” said Wais Naseeri, a political analyst.

“These type of efforts can benefit the people of Afghanistan because they can have a positive effect on the stability of Afghanistan, the region and the world,” said Tariq Farhadi, political analyst.

Meanwhile, there are reports that acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttagi has gone to Qatar to participate in the Doha meeting, but so far the Islamic Emirate has not said anything about it.

Earlier, the Islamic Emirate said that in the meeting to be held in two days with American officials in Doha they will discuss the lifting of sanctions against the current government officials and the release of the country’s assets.

US Envoys for Afghanistan Meet with Central Asian Nations’ Representatives
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29.2M Afghans Will Need Humanitarian Aid in 2023: UNICEF

Drought-like conditions, floods, insecurity, harsh winters, political and economic instability, and displacement, have increased recession in Afghanistan.

In a recent report, UNICEF said 29.2 million people are projected to need humanitarian assistance in 2023 and over 15 million people are projected to be in crisis and emergency levels of food insecurity during the period of May to October 2023.

Drought-like conditions, floods, insecurity, harsh winters, political and economic instability, and displacement, have increased recession in Afghanistan.

“The economic crisis is expected to continue, with 64 percent of households unable to meet their basic needs as vulnerable populations are pushed to the brink,” the UNICEF report said.

“The main goal of humanitarian aid and food security is to raise the level of consumption and the basic needs of families,” said Sayed Masoud, an economist.

UNICEF added that the ban on Afghan women from working with non-governmental organizations and the United Nations has significantly increased protection risks for vulnerable women and children.

“The best talents exist in women, and they can play an active role in the social and work fields, but unfortunately, the current government has not been able to solve this problem in the country so far,” said Surya Paykan, women’s rights activist.

“If women have a share in government posts, this shows the justice of Islamic governance — that it considers women and men equally in governance privileges and fulfills their rights for them,” said Robina Merzada, a women’s rights activist.

The Ministry of Economy of the Islamic Emirate once again asks the international community not to stop their humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.

“Focusing on development programs in job-creating sectors is among the priorities of the Ministry of Economy. The support of the international community for economic programs and the removal of economic sanctions by the United Nations can improve the economic and livelihood situation and create job opportunities for our people,” said Abdul Rahman Habibi, spokesman for the Ministry of Economy.

UNICEF added in the report that for 2023 $1.45 billion is urgently needed for the organization and without this funding the humanitarian needs of 19 million people in Afghanistan will remain unmet.

29.2M Afghans Will Need Humanitarian Aid in 2023: UNICEF
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Bill to Refund US Citizens Aiding Afghan Evacuees Makes Progress in House

I’m so pleased the committee has passed this important legislation to repay Americans who stepped up to do the work the Biden administration failed to do

A US House Foreign Affairs Committee press release said committee chairman Michael McCaul “applauds the passage of the bill to refund money spent by veterans, and others during the Afghanistan evacuation.”

Congressman Warren Davidson’s act, which requires the Secretary of State to submit a plan for the reimbursement of personal funds expended to evacuate American citizens, American lawful permanent residents, and Afghan allies from Afghanistan, and for other purposes, passed out of committee, the statement said.

McCaul co-sponsored the legislation and said “everyday Americans” including “thousands of US veterans – were forced to use their own money to fund these rescue operations, often draining their life savings to do what the US government should have been doing. I’m so pleased the committee has passed this important legislation to repay Americans who stepped up to do the work the Biden administration failed to do.” He said, “These heroes should be repaid for their service to our country, and I thank my colleagues from across the political spectrum who’ve supported this effort.”

Bill to Refund US Citizens Aiding Afghan Evacuees Makes Progress in House
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Islamic Emirate Says It Does Not Interfere With Aid Operations

According to SIGAR, this law will prohibit the US State Department and American donor organizations from sending aid to the current government of Afghanistan.

The Ministry of Economy rejected claims it is interfering with the operations of relief organizations.

The deputy minister of economy, Abdul Latif Nazari, said that the ministry keeps an eye on how foreign aid is distributed to ensure transparency and fairness.

According to Nazari, these claim were made for political reasons.

“We provide facilities for them, we removed the bureaucracy and we cooperate with them. But interference is never in our policy,” Nazari noted.

Earlier, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) said in a report that the current Afghan government interferes in the process of distributing humanitarian aid.

Foreign Policy magazine, which published this report, said that USAID found that the current Afghan government is trying to lead and monetize humanitarian aid.

“They make excuses, and in reality, they have started making excuses, and they use particular pressures on the Taliban in order to achieve certain aims,” said Sayed Masoud, an economist.

It was noted in the USAID May report that humanitarian aid donors were hesitant to continue aiding Afghanistan because of “Taliban” interference in the process.

The deputy minister of economy also talked about the reduction of humanitarian aid compared to last year.

“The aid is not as much as we expected at the moment, but our diplomacy and consultation are continuing in order to attract more aid,” Abdul Latif Nazari noted.

According to economists, the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan now more than ever requires a seamless flow of help to people.

“Given the urgency and need that the people of Afghanistan currently have for the aid of the UN, it is necessary to consider complete transparency in the distribution of aid,” said Shahir Bashiri, an economist.

This comes as the US special inspector for Afghanistan’s reconstruction announced last week that the US House of Representatives had approved a law restricting Washington’s assistance to Afghanistan.

According to SIGAR, this law will prohibit the US State Department and American donor organizations from sending aid to the current government of Afghanistan.

Islamic Emirate Says It Does Not Interfere With Aid Operations
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ICRC to Stop Supporting Govt Hospitals Due to Lack of Funds

The International Committee of the Red Cross said that it will stop supporting the Afghan governmental hospitals by the end of August 2023 due to a shortage in the budget.

“In April of this year, the supply of medicine to 25 hospitals in Afghanistan was stopped by us, but we continue to pay the salaries of health personnel and current expenses until the end of August this year.

The International Committee of the Red Cross continues to provide assistance to Afghanistan in various fields, including physical rehabilitation, water, prisons, economic security, and emergency response,” said Parwiz Ahmad Faizi, spokesman for the organization.

Based on the numbers of the ICRC, this organization has supported 25 hospitals since August 2021, as a result of which 25 million people across the country have had access to health services.

The Ministry of Public Health, in response to this decision of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said that the ministry has the ability to provide health services for the country.

“If the situation is like this where they stop their aid with some hospitals, we will use another legitimate way and provide supplies to those centers,” said Sharaft Zaman Amrkhil, spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health.

Residents of the capital asked the healthcare institutions to continue supporting the country’s health sector.

“Some examinations such as blood work … and some things are all free of charge. We will be happy if more facilities are provided,” said Fazilman Ullah, a Kabul resident.

“If the institutions stop their aid, we and you are in a critical situation, people are unemployed and there is no way to solve their problems,” said Rawaki, a Kabul resident.

Earlier, the World Health Organization broadcast a report saying that in 2023, more than 17 million people in Afghanistan will need health care and services.

ICRC to Stop Supporting Govt Hospitals Due to Lack of Funds
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US officials to meet Taliban in Doha to discuss economy, rights

By

WASHINGTON, July 26 (Reuters) – U.S. officials will meet Taliban representatives and “technocratic professionals” from Afghan ministries in Doha this week, the State Department said on Wednesday, adding they will discuss economic issues, security and women’s rights.

No country has formally recognized the Taliban administration since the group returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021 when U.S.-led foreign forces withdrew in chaos after a 20-year conflict.

Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West and Special Envoy for Afghan Women, Girls, and Human Rights Rina Amiri will meet a Taliban delegation in Doha to discuss humanitarian support for Afghanistan, security, women’s rights, economic stabilisation, and efforts to counter narcotics production and trafficking, the State Department said.

The department’s deputy spokesperson, Vedant Patel, reiterated U.S. concerns about human rights abuses and the marginalization of women and girls in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and said talks in the Qatari capital did not “mean any kind of indication of recognition or any kind of indication of normalization or legitimacy of the Taliban.”

“This does not indicate any change in the policy of the United States. We have been very clear that we will engage with the Taliban appropriately when it is in our interest to do so,” Patel said.

A Taliban foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement that acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi would lead the delegation.

“Afghanistan’s priority during talks are ending sanctions and blacklists, unfreezing Afghanistan’s bank reserves and stopping violation of Afghanistan’s airspace,” the ministry said, adding they would also meet Qatari officials.

The chaotic evacuation of U.S. troops in 2021 saw thousands of desperate Afghans trying to enter Kabul airport and men clinging to aircraft as they taxied down runways. An Islamic State suicide bomber killed 13 U.S. servicemembers and more than 150 Afghans outside an airport gate.

A State Department report last month criticized Democratic President Joe Biden and his Republican predecessor Donald Trump for the pullout, which was negotiated by Trump and executed under Biden.

Before their Qatar visit, West and Amiri will travel to Kazakhstan where they will meet officials from Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to discuss Afghanistan, the State Department said.

They would also meet civil society members focused on women’s rights.

Their trip to Kazakhstan and Qatar is from July 26 to July 31, the State Department said.

Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Additional reporting by Daphne Psaledakis and Simon Lewis, Jibran Ahmad and Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Paul Grant and Daniel Wallis, Robert Birsel
US officials to meet Taliban in Doha to discuss economy, rights
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US officials to meet Taliban representatives in Doha

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Washington, DC – United States diplomats will meet with Taliban representatives in Qatar this week, the US State Department has announced, in what will be rare, direct talks between Washington and the ruling Afghan group.

The State Department said on Wednesday that Thomas West and Rina Amiri will hold meetings on Afghanistan in Astana, Kazakhstan, with representatives from Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

West, the US special representative for Afghanistan, and Amiri, the US special envoy for Afghan women, girls, and human rights, will then meet a delegation of Taliban representatives and other Afghan ministry officials in the Qatari capital, Doha.

The pair will discuss “critical interests in Afghanistan” during the Doha meeting, the State Department said in a statement.

“Priority issues will include humanitarian support for the people of Afghanistan, economic stabilization, fair and dignified treatment of all Afghans, including women and girls, security issues, and efforts to counter narcotics production and trafficking.”

US forces withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021 after a 20-year war. The Taliban took over the country amid the US withdrawal as the country’s Western-backed government collapsed.

Washington still does not recognise the Taliban government in Kabul and has imposed sanctions against the group and its leaders.

The State Department said later on Wednesday that the upcoming meetings in Doha do not signal a change in the US position.

“We have been very clear that we will engage with the Taliban appropriately when it is in our interest to do so,” spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters.

“This is not intended to mean any kind of indication of recognition, or any kind of indication of normalisation or legitimacy of the Taliban.”

Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban has faced international condemnation, including from several Muslim-majority countries, over restrictions the group has imposed on women’s education.

The group banned women from attending university and subsequently prohibited girls from going to school past sixth grade. Earlier this month, the group also imposed a ban on women’s beauty parlours.

Late last year, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned the Taliban of consequences if the group does not change its policies on the education of women and girls.

“And to be clear, we’re engaged with other countries on this right now – there are going to be costs if this is not reversed, if this has not changed,” Blinken said in December, without specifying what those measures might include.

Afghanistan continues to face a humanitarian crisis, with almost half of its population – 23 million people – receiving assistance from the World Food Programme (WFP) last year.

Taliban officials have expressed a willingness to work with the US if Washington lifts its sanctions against the group.

The US and a coalition of its allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks by al-Qaeda in New York and Washington, DC. At that time, the Taliban, which was in control of the country, hosted al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

The US-led forces were able to swiftly remove the Taliban from power, but they never managed to ensure a lasting defeat of the group or fully wrest control over the country. The war became Washington’s longest armed conflict.

The administration of former US President Donald Trump signed a deal with the Taliban in 2020, agreeing to pull US troops out of Afghanistan.

President Joe Biden honoured the agreement, but the chaotic US withdrawal sparked a domestic backlash against his administration.

In recent internal reviews assessing the departure of US forces from Afghanistan, the Biden administration has acknowledged shortcomings in the operation while also criticising Trump for failing to plan for the withdrawal after the 2020 agreement.

US officials to meet Taliban representatives in Doha
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Taliban Shut Beauty Salons, One of Afghan Women’s Last Public Spaces

The New York Time

All women’s beauty salons in Afghanistan were set to close on Tuesday, officials said, as part of a Taliban administration announcement early this month that the women-only spaces were forbidden under Shariah law and caused economic hardship for grooms’ families during wedding celebrations.

The closing of the salons — one of the few public places left in Afghanistan where women could congregate outside the home — represents another grim milestone for women’s rights in Afghanistan. Since the Taliban seized power in August 2021, the government has steadily rolled back women’s rights, barring women and girls from most public spaces, from traveling any significant distance without a male relative and from attending school beyond sixth grade.

The salons had been given a one-month grace period to end their operations.

Taliban security forces in Kabul, the capital, made the rounds on Tuesday to ensure that salons were complying with the ban, according to Sadeq Akif Muhajir, the spokesman for the Taliban administration’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.

The initial announcement ordering salons to close prompted a rare public protest early this month in Kabul, the capital, where dozens of salon owners and beauticians marched down the street while holding signs opposing the ban. Security forces with the Taliban administration broke up the protest using fire hoses and shot weapons into the air to disperse the crowd.

The use of force drew criticism from the United Nations mission in Afghanistan, which tweeted that “Afghans have the right to express views free from violence. De facto authorities must uphold this.”

For many women in Kabul, beauty salons have been cherished as one of a handful of safe spaces where women could gather away from men outside the home.

Shukriya Afshar, 46, has worked as a beautician in the Gul Raihan Beauty Salon in Kabul for two years. She said that her husband earned just a few dollars a week as a day laborer and that the money from the salon was critical to supplementing the family’s income.

The work also offered her a badly needed mental-health outlet as she watched her rights erode under the Taliban administration.

“I could get away from anxiety and mental pressure by going to the salon and working,” she said.

Previous Taliban edicts have restricted women from most employment opportunities outside health care and private businesses, and about 60,000 women were employed by roughly 12,000 salons across Afghanistan, according to the Afghanistan Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“This isn’t about getting your hair and nails done,” Heather Barr, the associate director of women’s rights at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “This is about 60,000 women losing their jobs. This is about women losing one of the only places they could go for community and support.”

Such restrictions have also drawn widespread international condemnation, including from other Islamist governments like those of Iran and Saudi Arabia, and prompted international human rights monitors to label Afghanistan one of the most restrictive countries in the world for women.

“Women and girls in Afghanistan are experiencing severe discrimination that may amount to gender persecution — a crime against humanity,” Richard Bennett, the United Nations special rapporteur for Afghanistan, said in a statement last month. “The de facto authorities appear to be governing by systemic discrimination with the intention to subject women and girls to total domination.”

Safiullah Padshah contributed reporting.

Christina Goldbaum is the Afghanistan and Pakistan bureau chief for The Times. 

Taliban Shut Beauty Salons, One of Afghan Women’s Last Public Spaces
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Scholarships have helped displaced Afghan students find homes on university campuses across the US

BY JAMIE STENGLE

Associated Press

25 July 2023

Dozens of Afghan students who fled their homeland when it came under Taliban rule have received scholarships to attend U.S. universities and many are nearing graduation.

DALLAS (AP) — As the Taliban swept back into power in Afghanistan in the summer of 2021, Fahima Sultani and her fellow university students tried for days to get into the Kabul airport, only to be turned away by gun-wielding extremists.

“No education, just go back home,” she recalled one shouting.

Nearly two years later, Sultani, now 21, is safely in the U.S. and working toward her bachelor’s degree in data science at Arizona State University in Tempe on a scholarship. When she’s not studying, she likes to hike up nearby Tempe Butte, the kind of outing she enjoyed in her mountainous homeland.

Seeing students like Sultani rush to leave in August 2021 as the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan after 20 years, colleges, universities and other groups across the U.S. started piecing together the funding for hundreds of scholarships so they could continue their education outside of their home country.

Women of Sultani’s generation, born around the time the U.S. ousted the Taliban after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, grew up attending school and watching as women pursued careers. The Taliban’s return upended those freedoms.

“Within minutes of the collapse of the government in Kabul, U.S. universities said, ‘We’ll take one;’ ‘We’ll take three;’ ‘We’ll take a professor;’ ‘We’ll take a student,’” said Allan Goodman, CEO of the Institute of International Education, a global not-for-profit that helps fund such scholarships.

The fears leading the students to quickly board flights were soon justified as the Taliban ushered in a harsh Islamic rule: Girls cannot attend school beyond the sixth grade and women, once again required to wear burqas, have been banned from universities, parks and gyms and are restricted from most employment.

Sultani is one of more than 60 Afghan women who arrived at ASU by December 2021 after fleeing Afghanistan, where she’d been studying online through Asian University for Women in Bangladesh during the pandemic.

“These women came out of a crisis, a traumatic experience, boarded a plane not knowing where they were going, ended up in the U.S.,” said Susan Edgington, executive director and head of operations of ASU’s Global Academic Initiatives.

After making their way to universities and colleges across the U.S. over the last two years, many are nearing graduation and planning their futures.

Mashal Aziz, 22, was a few months from graduating from American University of Afghanistan when Kabul fell and she boarded a plane. After leaving, she began scouring the internet, researching which schools were offering scholarships and what organizations might be able to help.

“You’ve already left everything and you are thinking maybe there are barriers for your higher education,” Aziz said.

She and three other Afghan students arrived at Northeastern University in Boston in January 2022 after first being taken to Qatar and then a military base in New Jersey.

Aziz graduated this spring with a bachelor’s degree in finance and accounting management. She plans to start working on her master’s degree in finance this fall at Northeastern.

The hurdles for students who left can include everything from needing help to overcome language barriers to getting credit for the courses they completed in their home country to affording tuition, Aziz said.

Just two days after the fall of Kabul, the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma announced it had created two scholarships for Afghans seeking refuge in the U.S. Later, the university created five more scholarships that went to some of the young Afghans who settled in the area. Five more Afghans have received scholarships to study there this fall.

Danielle Macdonald, an associate anthropology professor at the school, has organized a regular meetup between TU students and college-aged Afghans who have settled in the Tulsa area.

Around two dozen young people attend the events, where they talk about everything from U.S. slang to finding jobs. Their outings have included visiting a museum and going to a basketball game, Macdonald said.

“It’s become a really lovely community,” she said.

For many young people leaving Afghanistan, familiarity with the U.S. made the country a natural destination.

That was the case for Hamasa Zeerak, 24, and her 30-year-old husband, Hussain Saifnijat. In Kabul, Zeerak attended the American University of Afghanistan, while Saifnijat worked for a U.S.-based technology company.

They both began studying at Rutgers University, in New Jersey, last fall. He may be able to graduate as early as this fall with a master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering. She is studying to get her bachelor’s degree in business administration and graduates in 2025.

“My worries were a lot at the beginning because I was thinking about how to continue our life in America; how can we find a job?” Zeerak said. “It was stressful at the beginning but everything goes smooth.”

Sultani, like many others who left Afghanistan, often thinks about those who remained behind, including her sister, who had been studying at a university, but now must stay home.

“I can go to universities while millions of girls back in Afghanistan, they do not have this opportunity that I have,” Sultani said. “I can dress the way I want and millions of girls now in Afghanistan, they do not have this opportunity.”

There will be 20 Afghans studying this fall at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green. Atifa Kabuli, 46, had studied nursing there for the last two semesters but now is focused on studying for exams that will allow her to practice medicine in the U.S.

Older than most of the arriving students, Kabuli left behind her career as an obstetrician and gynecologist. During the Taliban’s first rule, from 1996 to 2001, she was only able to continue her education by studying in Pakistan.

When the Taliban regained control, she knew she and her husband would have to leave so their daughters, now 15 and 10, would be able to continue going to school. Her time at WKU, she said, helped her find the confidence to pursue a medical license in the U.S.

Since the initial flurry of scholarships, efforts to assist Afghan students have continued, including the creation of the Qatar Scholarship for Afghans Project, which has helped fund 250 scholarships at dozens of U.S. colleges and universities.

But there are still more young people in need of support to continue their educations in the U.S. or even reach the U.S. from Afghanistan or other countries, explained Jonah Kokodyniak, a senior vice president at the Institute of International Education.

Yasamin Sohrabi, 26, is among those still trying to find a way to the U.S. Sohrabi, who had been studying law at American University of Afghanistan, realized as the withdrawal of U.S. forces neared that she might need to go overseas to continue her studies. The day after the Taliban took Kabul, she learned of her admission to WKU but wasn’t able to get into the airport to leave Afghanistan.

A year later, she and her younger sister, who also has been accepted at the university, got visas to Pakistan. Now they are trying to find a way to get into the U.S. Their brother, who accompanied them to Pakistan, is applying to the school, as well.

Sohrabi said she and her siblings try not to focus on what they have lost, but instead on how to get to the U.S. to continue their studies.

“That’s one of the things in these days we think about,” she said. “It keeps us going.”

 

Scholarships have helped displaced Afghan students find homes on university campuses across the US
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